Tri-Nations to trial NEW law changes

The two new laws for the Tri-Nations will permit the pulling down of the maul and remove the requirement that teams match numbers at the lineout.

New Zealand host South Africa in Wellington on July 5 in the opening Tri-Nations fixture of the season.

New law changes are being trialled globally for a year.

"We believe the laws we will play in the nine matches of the Tri-Nations will provide a rigorous examination of the most fundamental of the ELVs," said Jonathan Stones, chief executive officer of the South Africa New Zealand and Australia Rugby (SANZAR).

The changes are being trialled from grassroots to Test level with 13 of the 23 Experimental Law Variations (ELVs) in use in the southern hemisphere to be introduced. Some other ELVs will be trialled in an unnamed northern hemisphere event.

A further seven ELVs have been referred back to the International Rugby Board's laws group for further analysis.

The ELVs were partially trialled by teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa in this year's Super 14, but some northern hemisphere unions have expressed reservations on safety grounds.

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Changes to be trialled worldwide include:

Players can defend a maul by pulling it down.

Introduction of an offside line five metres behind the hindmost feet of the scrum.

No restriction on the number of players who can participate in the lineout from either side (minimum of two).

The receiver in a lineout must stand two metres back from the lineout.

Flags are no longer considered to be in touch in-goal except when a ball is grounded against the post.

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Further ELVs to be trialled in an elite northern hemisphere competition, expected to be the European Challenge Cup, include:

For all offences other than offside, not entering through the gate, and Law 10 - Foul Play, the sanction is a free kick.

If the ball is unplayable at the breakdown, the side that did not take the ball into contact will receive a free kick.

If a maul becomes unplayable, the team not in possession at the start of the maul receives a free kick.

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This one on the RSS feed caught my eye..

So, no number restriction at the line-out and pulling down the maul laws are in for this years Tri-Nations. I'm not sure why they're pushing that 'pulling down the maul' rule so much. Seriously, they must see something in that rule that we're not. Does it really add to the game? I don't think it does.

I don't know what the iRB sees, whatever.I know there are thousands of threads on the ELV's but I didn't expect us SH guys had to test that particular rule again (I'm pretty sure they tried it in the ARC), especially in the Tri-Nations.

Nah, you're over exaggerating there ChiefsFan, they very much stop-able.
Yeah it's difficult to defend, it's also difficult to get one going. It's a skill. Plus not many things get a crowd going like when they see a good rolling maul.

The reason for allowing pulling down the maul is that once a team gets a maul rolling in the five metre line it's almost impossible to stop. [/b]

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Just to add to the other posts.

Doing this is like saying, "oh that team x is very good at running with the ball, maybe we should make it legal to trip them in mid stride because -gasp- team y is -shite- at defending against a running game"

no.

just no.

A maul is a skill as much as anything else, if a team has any decent defensive structure they should be able to negate it as well, pulling down the maul is just plain cheating in my opinion.

What I mean is, if one team gets a maul rolling from say the 22 and pushes into the 5 Metre, because of the build up of movement and what not the force is very hard to equal if one team has to keep being pushed back.

I'm not saying I agree, but this is the reason that was stated when they were first explaining some of the ELVs.

The Maul Rule will effect teams like the Boks who use the Rolling maul as a main part of the stragedy. A problem with this law is if the pull it down before it gets to the last man, the ball will be trapped inside. The Lineout law is fine though

What I mean is, if one team gets a maul rolling from say the 22 and pushes into the 5 Metre, because of the build up of movement and what not the force is very hard to equal if one team has to keep being pushed back.

I'm not saying I agree, but this is the reason that was stated when they were first explaining some of the ELVs. [/b]

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I understand that, but there has to be a limit to "balancing" the game in this respect. Remember the law of unintended consequences.

It is much better to focus on making the game easier to understand for everyone than on noble goals such as trying to "nerf" certain parts of the game because they feel that it gives one side an advantage over the other.